Top 20 players

[waitahochiminute 2]

Pavel Datsyuk - Pure hockey sense, Immense agility and the best hands in the game today. He is also one of the top checking forwards and has a defensive mindset while off the puck. Great chemistry and an even better sense of humor...

[Greatness=PavelDatsyuk 65]

Iginla

[Greatness=PavelDatsyuk 65]

Pavel Datsyuk - Pure hockey sense, Immense agility and the best hands in the game today. He is also one of the top checking forwards and has a defensive mindset while off the puck. Great chemistry and an even better sense of humor...

Datsyuk was already voted on the list

[Lidstrom for Norris 0]

Jerome Iginla- Calgary Flames

[egroen 384]

Me thinks goalies are being underrated here....

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

Me thinks goalies are being underrated here....

Because this is the era of the goaltender.

Good goalies are not hard to find nowadays. Seems like every team can call up some minor league goalie who winds up playing great (except us). I wish goalies would start sucking like they do when I watch vintage hockey games from time to time. Now it's too easy for these guys to dominate.

I don't know when I'll eventually vote in this thread for a goalie, but it's just hard doing so, knowing how many great ones there are now. We might as well have a separate thread for them.

[GoWings1905 2,694]

Good point.

People are overrating Getzlaf. His offensive numbers aren't as good as Iginla's and although he does occasionally play the PK, Getzlaf is not that great a defensive forward yet, so he doesn't deserve much praise there.

Finally, like I said earlier, Iginla has the leadership factor and has more weight on his shoulders, since he has to carry that team offensively. Anaheim's top forwards are way better than Calgary's.

If Getzlaf had an average series against us, half the people that voted for him would have changed their votes.

And don't even get me started on those who ranked Kovalchuk ahead of Iginla. The guy has never even played in a big game in his NHL career, and yet he's getting votes ahead of arguably the best forward of the decade and a guy who's still going strong.

How exactly is that Kovalchuk's fault? You are holding something against Kovalchuk that he has no control over. Atlanta is awful and Kovalchuk has never had anything even close to resembling a supporting cast like Iginla's in Calgary. Kovalchuk's numbers while playing in Atlanta are that much more impressive given the situation. I think it is quite easy to justify voting for Kovalchuk ahead of Iginla. Iginla has gotten bounced in the first round four straight seasons -- what is he doing so special in the big games lately?

Edited September 15, 2009 by GoWings1905

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

How exactly is that Kovalchuk's fault? You are holding something against Kovalchuk that he has no control over. Atlanta is awful and Kovalchuk has never had anything even close to resembling a supporting cast like Iginla's in Calgary. Kovalchuk's numbers while playing in Atlanta are that much more impressive given the situation. I think it is quite easy to justify voting for Kovalchuk ahead of Iginla. Iginla has gotten bounced in the first round four straight seasons -- what is he doing so special in the big games lately?

Iginla has proven himself before in big games. He got his team to the Finals once and won a Gold Medal playing great hockey.

Kovalchuk is unproven in big games, and isn't as good a leader as Iginla. Also, he's not as physical and doesn't have Iginla's net presence. He can score goals and has a rocket shot, but so does Iginla.

Kovalchuk is a better skater than Iginla, but I don't see any other advantages. Iginla can score from anywhere on the ice, while Kovalchuk is more prone to stay away from the front of the net.

Edited September 15, 2009 by GMRwings1983

[egroen 384]

Because this is the era of the goaltender.

Good goalies are not hard to find nowadays. Seems like every team can call up some minor league goalie who winds up playing great (except us). I wish goalies would start sucking like they do when I watch vintage hockey games from time to time. Now it's too easy for these guys to dominate.

I don't know when I'll eventually vote in this thread for a goalie, but it's just hard doing so, knowing how many great ones there are now. We might as well have a separate thread for them.

I do think Luongo is the best of the pack now, Lundqvist in 2nd.... Brodeur is past his prime.

[Echolalia 2,961]

Voting is officially closed for 7th best, and voting rose a bit from the last round to 22 total votes.

Iginla came in a narrow first with 9 votes (40.91%)

Getzlaf came in second with 8 votes (36.36%)

Kovalchuk came in third place with 4 votes (18.18%)

Luongo came in 4th place with 1 vote (4.5%)

1) Ovechkin

2) Lidstrom

3) Crosby

4) Datsyuk

5) Malkin

6) Zetterberg

7) Iginla

Lets get started on 8th best. Thanks to all of you who have been 'bolding' your vote, it has really helped, and remember not to vote for a player who has already placed, as you will be throwing your vote away.

I'll start voting off by picking Kovalchuk for 8th best.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Getzlaf.

[Carman 387]

Chara

[egroen 384]

Luongo

[chrisdetroit 189]

Really?

Considering Crosby has the whole hockey world watching him, he's done pretty well for himself. Datsyuk doesn't have as much pressure, but hasn't played as well in the clutch. Don't know how you can say that's a toss up.

Also, by playoffs I don't just mean Finals, I meant the entire playoffs. There's no argument for Datsyuk being better in the playoffs than Crosby.

So all you have left for Datsyuk is once again defense and faceoffs. Crosby takes the rest. You gave Pavel more credit than he deserved in your post.

Datsyuk is much better defensively than Crosby and offensively Crosby has the edge but it's not a huge edge.

As far as ability to handle pressure, there is no greater pressure than playing in the Stanley Cup Finals and Crosby was utterly shut down. But you want to ignore that and say he handles pressure better than Datsyuk. Sure, Crosby was great against Carolina and Washington but not so much when he had to play a much better team in the finals....

Ok.

[55fan 5,133]

Last time I was really torn between Iginla and Getzlaf.

So now I'm not torn: Getzlaf.

[Buppy 1,720]

Me thinks goalies are being underrated here....

Yeah, probably. Personally, I just find it too hard to compare goalies to skaters. Even comparing defensemen to forwards is tough.

That said, I'll vote for a forward again. Kovalchuk. 5 straight years with 40+ goals...

[eva unit zero 271]

Iginla has proven himself before in big games. He got his team to the Finals once and won a Gold Medal playing great hockey.

Kovalchuk is unproven in big games, and isn't as good a leader as Iginla. Also, he's not as physical and doesn't have Iginla's net presence. He can score goals and has a rocket shot, but so does Iginla.

Kovalchuk is a better skater than Iginla, but I don't see any other advantages. Iginla can score from anywhere on the ice, while Kovalchuk is more prone to stay away from the front of the net.

Ok...so did Kiprusoff or Iginla carry that team? Although you didn't use the term, I've heard many times about both "singlehandedly" carrying the Flames to the finals. It's rather confusing, really.

[eva unit zero 271]

The topic is about who the best players are now, and not who'll be better at the same age.

So Iginla's performance from two years ago is any more important than Getzlaf's performance two years from now? That's not really a fair argument to top notch young players who don't have the career history yet. A fair analogy is who would you rather have right now, Jonas Hiller or Marty Turco? Hiller had a strong season and outplayed Turco by a fair margin, but Turco has had several good seasons coming into this past season. So who's better right now? I would say Hiller, and your arguments seem to indicate Turco.

It's about right now. And Getzlaf is better than Iginla right now.

[Greatness=PavelDatsyuk 65]

Getzlaf

[GoWings1905 2,694]

Datsyuk is much better defensively than Crosby and offensively Crosby has the edge but it's not a huge edge.

As far as ability to handle pressure, there is no greater pressure than playing in the Stanley Cup Finals and Crosby was utterly shut down. But you want to ignore that and say he handles pressure better than Datsyuk. Sure, Crosby was great against Carolina and Washington but not so much when he had to play a much better team in the finals....

Ok.

Refresh us all on what exactly Pavel did in the Finals, or any playoff round for that matter.

My vote is for Kovalchuk again.

[mmamolo 287]

GETZLAF

[dat's sick 1,002]

ZACH PARISE

[mmamolo 287]

ZACH PARISE

good call, he isnt getting the respect he deserves

[Louisville 112]

Getzlaf is definitely a top ten player.

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

Datsyuk is much better defensively than Crosby and offensively Crosby has the edge but it's not a huge edge.

As far as ability to handle pressure, there is no greater pressure than playing in the Stanley Cup Finals and Crosby was utterly shut down. But you want to ignore that and say he handles pressure better than Datsyuk. Sure, Crosby was great against Carolina and Washington but not so much when he had to play a much better team in the finals....

Ok.

Crosby was shut down in the Finals because our team's entire focus was on him and on no one else. That's why the other Pens players beat us.

As an overall playoff performance, he was better than any of our forwards, especially Datsyuk. He and Datsyuk have a similar amount of career playoff points, however, Crosby has played half as many games to reach that mark, with much higher expectations than what Datsyuk has had.

Do you really want to compare these 2 players in terms of playoff success?

Ok...so did Kiprusoff or Iginla carry that team? Although you didn't use the term, I've heard many times about both "singlehandedly" carrying the Flames to the finals. It's rather confusing, really.

They both carried the team. One with timely goals and leadership, the other with goaltending. When has Getzlaf had to carry an entire team offensively without much help around him?

So Iginla's performance from two years ago is any more important than Getzlaf's performance two years from now? That's not really a fair argument to top notch young players who don't have the career history yet. A fair analogy is who would you rather have right now, Jonas Hiller or Marty Turco? Hiller had a strong season and outplayed Turco by a fair margin, but Turco has had several good seasons coming into this past season. So who's better right now? I would say Hiller, and your arguments seem to indicate Turco.

It's about right now. And Getzlaf is better than Iginla right now.

I think Iginla is better now than Getzlaf. To reiterate, he's more physical, is a better goal scorer, a better leader, and has more of a load to carry with that team. That's why I ranked him higher.